Secondary Menu

Homemade Zombie Weapon

About: Couple of years ago I created my metal casting blog and over the years I uploaded many projects, my main goal is to increase the awareness of recycling, I use recycled scrap aluminum for all my projects and...
More About NutandBolt »

In this Ible I will show you how you can recycle scrap aluminum into something new. I was experimenting lately with some Lost Foam aluminum castings method. In my previews Ible I made aluminum heart chain and after I made another aluminum casting of an ugly paper wight. The paper wight casting gave me the idea of creating aluminum spiked ball. So in this Ible I will show you most of the steps in the making process, enjoy ;-)

Step 1: Making the Styrofoam Spiked Ball

To make the actual disposable pattern for the lost foam casting I used, Styrofoam ball from art and craft shop and smaller egg shaped Styrofoam. First I marked on the ball where I will position the the spikes and after I cut the egg Styrofoam leaving flat surface, I used the sharp knife to create concave at the base of the Styrofoam eggs. Once I had all the spikes ready I used sticky craft glue. The glue work very well to attach the Styrofoam and not leaving defects in the final aluminum casting.

Step 2: Making the Sand Mould and Pouring the Molten Aluminum

Next step is creating the sand mould for the casting, so far I found that using oil bonded sand woks well with this type of casting, I tired to use green sand as well but did not achieve the best casting results. I made sure to compact all the sand carefully around the Styrofoam pattern and attached a sprue where the aluminum will be poured in. Once the molten aluminum is poured the Styrofoam pattern disintegrates and replaced with the molten aluminum instead.

I also use tin can on top of the sand to create molten aluminum reservoir, this prevents shrinkage defects in the actual casting. Any extra aluminum left I turn into aluminum ingots and re-use.

Step 3: Recycling Scarp Aluminum and Re-melting It With a Homemade Furnace

In the images you can see the scrap aluminum left from previews castings including the leftovers of the first aluminum heart chain that did not turn out very well. Once the aluminum is in a molten stage I degas it and remove any impurities.

Step 4: Removing the Solid Aluminum Casting From the Sand Mould

I was very eager to see how the aluminum casting turned out and I was not disappointed, the results where very impressive. I first removed the casting out of the sand mould and then cooled it a bit with water.

Next step is removing the extra aluminum reservoir and attaching the chain.

Step 5: Cutting the Extra Aluminum Reservoir

To cut off the aluminum reservoir I used my reciprocating saw, it cut's quick and effortless. once I had the extra aluminum removed I used my angle grinder with scaled grid flap discs beveling the edges....well trying to anyway ;-)

The spike ball weight is 1.8 kg or 3.9 pounds, nice and chunky.

Step 6: Attaching the Chain

First I drilled a hole in the spike ball base and then attached the dee shackle, to the shackle I connected a scrap chain that I found down the beach and the next step was to make a handle. To make the handle I used long scarp bolt and nuts, to the top nut I welded a metal loop.

Step 7: Attaching the Handle

To attach the handle I used quick link connected to the welded metal loop, the top of the handle rotates 360°. So all that was remaining at that point was to test the aluminum spiked ball and see if it will be efficient to stop a zombie........

Step 8: Evil Zombie Watermelon

To test the zombie weapon the subject was an evil watermelon, test was successful and the watermelon ended in my compost bin ;-)

Epilog X Contest

PCB Contest

Safe and Secure Challenge

Discussions

though, i think the last longer nut on the bottom of the handle could use something wider on the bottom so the handle doesnt slip out of your hand when you use it. it may be "ok" or something now, but there's always that potential of it sliding out. maybe a mirror image of the washer/nut assembly at the top without the loop the chain attaches to?